54 THREE FISH 



and puffing at his pipe, he never spoke ; he only 

 watched and waited, only waited and watched. No 

 Sphinx ever looked across the desert with more 

 persistent, more eternal eyes. He grew to seem 

 the very Genius of the place, muttering spells below 

 his breath. 



Well, I fished on till the evening, but it was ever 

 the same story ; fish were everywhere, but not a fish 

 would come. One hates to confess oneself beaten, 

 and the triumph of the old wizard of a Digger would 

 have been bad to bear. But it really seemed a 

 hopeless waste of time ; and I had just determined to 

 chuck it up, when behind a stone I saw the waving of 

 a tail. How I sighed for my old " Farlow " and just 

 two yards of fine-drawn gut ! Well, I pulled myself 

 together for a final try. A ridiculous idea had 

 come into my head. 



But I would not begin yet ; for at that moment 

 there was a sound of horse's hoofs, and riding down 

 the valley came a loafer from the gold diggings; 

 his long legs straddled down on either side of a 

 rat-tailed screw. He pulled up to look. So I 

 moved down a yard or two and feigned to be trying 

 for a fish. Impatient for him to go, and not in 

 the best of tempers, the cheer I gave him was 



